


With a Kiss

by borderlandsbigbang



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Happy Ending, Illness, M/M, anonymous submission, borderlands reverse bang 2018, demon!Tim, sex implied, tentacle dick implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 01:35:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14094156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/borderlandsbigbang/pseuds/borderlandsbigbang
Summary: Being a wealthy merchant meant that Jack should have been able to solve any problem by throwing enough money at it but one day his Angel falls ill and is dying, no number of doctors or their so-called solutions could make her better. In one last desperate act to save her life Jack makes a deal with a demon.





	With a Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> This work was submitted anonymously for the art created by [Herkal](http://lapaduza.tumblr.com/) for the Borderlands Reverse Bang 2018 challenge.

Everything had seemed perfect, though his family had been severely cut down in size to just him and his daughter, Jack could not complain, all they needed was each other. At least Jack needed Angel, her name appropriately chosen had meant she was a bright light in his times of desperation and gave him a hope he had almost given up on a long time ago.

So, when Angel had collapsed, Jack was almost frantic as he took her to the nearest doctor. 

When they had told him there was nothing they could do he didn’t accept their answer, he had to find a way, Jack was anything but a quitter as a life full of obstacles had proven. With more money than he ever really knew what to do with he sent out messages to every known doctor to get different opinions and whatever medicine they thought could help his baby girl.

Nothing had helped, months had gone by and his little Angel was just getting sicker. Jack was getting desperate as he poured over medical books himself to see if there was something they were all missing, anything at all.

Another late night into reading and Jack was exhausted, exhausted enough that he didn’t realize he had grabbed the occult book that he had added in as a morbid joke to himself…but now, it didn’t seem like a joke not after he had skimmed a few of the words and an idea came to mind. Demon’s granted you anything you wanted at the price of your soul, he could save his daughter’s life. He would do anything for her.

It wasn’t long until Jack’s attention shifted from the medical books to whatever demonic literature he could get his hands on. He made sure to keep his new interest a secret from the outside world as the last thing he needed was an angry mob busting into his home and hanging him for dealing with the devil.

Jack couldn’t hide anything from Angel for long, despite her weakening body her mind was still as sharp as ever.

“Father?”

He had heard Angel, but he couldn’t turn his eyes away from the page, it was promising, the page contained information about a demon that was often summoned to fulfill the desire that was in your heart. He had a strong desire to save Angel, this was the safest bet for him, something that couldn’t turn out in any other way then saving his daughter. 

“Father!”

Jack had jumped at the sound of Angel’s voice which was closer and louder this time. He quickly closed the book, flipping it so the front cover wasn’t on display for prying eyes.

“Yes, baby?” Jack finally turned his attention to Angel, taking in her haggard appearance and frowning as he gently pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Father, I’ve been calling your for near five minutes now.” Angel looked positively exasperated as her hands rested on her hips and she huffed.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Jack questioned as he leaned back in his chair to give Angel his full attention.

“Shouldn’t you?” Angel mimicked, she was clearly not in the mood to be lectured by her father who had not been taking care of himself at all.

Jack made a noncommittal shrug before getting up from his chair, with legs that had been so use to disuse and an achy body from sitting in the same position for hours on end Jack almost fell over, luckily he had the forethought to balance himself on his desk first.

“Alright, fine, you win this round.” Jack yawned, shooing Angel out of his office as he followed her. The fact that she was more concerned about him instead of herself never failed to make him feel guilty. Soon though, soon she will be healthy, and they could continue with their life.

Angel was good at putting on a show, making you think she was stronger than she actually was, Jack fell for it every time and last night was no different. She had seemed so energetic, she had seemed fine, but now she couldn’t even get out of bed. It was hard, watching his only child suffer this way.

During his free time, he looked more into the book and about the demon he chose to summon. He was going to do it as soon as possible, he would not be backing out of it now, neither would he waste any more time! He planned to gather the items required for the ritual in secret then conduct it in the attic of his home, no one ever ventured up there which meant it would be a perfect place to summon a demon without any one interrupting him. 

* * *

Jack took a deep breath inhaling the heavy scent of the candles and incense he had lit not too long ago, they were musky and barely managed to mask the smell of death that permeated from his other items; particularly a stone bowl filled with ground up bones, his own blood, plant matter, and some more questionable items that were ground up made into a thick liquid. Slowly letting out the air in his lungs, Jack opened his eyes and stared down at the collection of items arranged perfectly on a summoning circle.

He had steeled himself long ago for this moment, he knew what he was doing he had researched endlessly into this topic spending every day and night on this, driving himself to exhaustion and madness. He was doing this to save his daughter’s life and there was no way he would back out now.

Fists uncurling from their clenched state Jack picked up the stone bowl and poured half the contents into the middle of the floor before taking it to his own lips and with only a moment hesitation he downed the rest. Dropping the bowl and gagging immediately, Jack quickly covered his mouth, eyes watering as he forced himself to keep down the foul dark sludge that now coated his mouth and throat, he could feel it traveling down all the way to his stomach where it rested heavily.

After making sure that he could keep the concoction down, Jack placed his hands on the circle and began to chant. At first it started out as a low murmur gaining in volume as he was making his way to the climax. Throughout the chant he kept his mind trained on his daughter’s face, happy smiles and soft sweet voice talking to him in a gentle manner. That mischievous look in her eyes whenever she felt playful or had stolen a sweet from the kitchen…but soon the happier memories started to turn for the worse as he soon saw her sickly complexion, the tired eyes, holding back her hair as she tried to throw up what little food she had managed to keep down that day. Instead of getting better it had only gotten worse. Worse and worse and worse until she could barely get out of bed. Though she still always managed for him.

Despite the weakening and dying body she had tried to stay by his side and take care of HIM. He hated that he couldn’t really do anything to heal her as he had tried everything. Doctors, medicines, herbs, anything he could get his hands on. This was his last resort. He was summoning a demon in hopes of making a deal with it to save his daughter’s life. To make her healthy again and let her live out her life. He couldn’t bear to lose her.

Jack had been so lost in thought he didn’t notice there was a growing heat in his belly where the substance rested heavily nor that there was another presence in the room, not until something dropped on his head and a soft chuckling was heard echoing throughout the room.

A hand moved to his head to feel what had fallen on top of it, it felt wet and sticky…. moving his hand down to look at the strange substance he noticed it was black and more of a sludge like material. The exact same thing that had been in the middle of the circle. Looking down at the spot with widened eyes, Jack had noted it was gone and that the laughing persisted, gaining in volume until he finally looked up.

Jack wore a horrified expression on his face, his mouth opened closed repeatedly making him look like a fish while his heterochromatic eyes nearly bulged out of his head. His flight or fight response kicked in after a few seconds of staring at the monster above him. He was so fearful of it he threw the stone bowl, aiming for where he thought its head would be before scrambling backwards, getting to his feet as fast as possible and running for the stairs. The bowl hit its intended target as he heard a thud and maybe a shocked cry of pain instead of continued laughter.

For a moment he forgot he was the one that had summoned the abomination that appeared before him, a mass of dripping sludge, teeth, and eyes, he couldn’t tell what it was, all he knew was that it was a horror he has never seen before nor ever wanted to see again. He needed to get Angel and he needed to get out of the house! At least that’s what he had been thinking until something wrapped around his foot on the last few steps down the stairs and he ended up falling to the floor.

Jack had no time to think about what had tripped him when he felt something warm begin to wrap around his throat, his hand flew up to his neck to get whatever was on him off, although he quickly found he couldn’t pull it off and whenever he tried it tightened around his throat.

_ “This is the first time anyone ever thrown a stone bowl at me before.” _

Flipping himself around, Jack looked up at the demon that just seemed to be balancing himself on the railing to his staircase, wait...the demon now looked eerily similar to himself.

_ “It hurt, you know.”  _ The demon watched him for a moment longer before breaking into a grin,  _ “surprised? If you had given me a minute I would have changed my form right before your very eyes.” _

Jack was finally calm enough to note that the thing that was wrapped around his throat was the demon’s tail, it was absurdly long and while that would have been strange to him he couldn’t disregard the fact that there was demon he had actually managed to summon on his stairs.

_ “Are you even listening, mortal?” _

Oh, right. He should respond to the demon instead of staring at him like a frightened idiot. Now that the demon was more human-esque, Jack found that his fear was dying down. 

“Uhhhh yes, sorry about the…bowl I threw, you startled me.” Jack noted the look incredulous look on the demon’s face, maybe startled wasn’t the word he should have used here. At least he was managing a conversation, so he counted that as a small victory towards himself. He cleared his throat to speak up about his reason for summoning the demon in the first place, “I need your help, my da- “

_ “Yes, I know why you summoned me, I think we can skip all that and just go straight to sealing the deal. You want a cure all for your daughter, she’s healthy and I get you. Sound good?” _ While the demon had been speaking he jumped down from the railing and began to stalk towards Jack, eyes glowing and a grin growing as he was ready to seal their deal.

Jack had thought the deal would have been made after they shook hands or even with a contract he signed in blood. What he wasn’t prepared for was the kiss.

Jack barely had any time to think before the demon was suddenly very close to his face, a resemblance of his own face staring back at him as it waited for a reply, a clawed hand hovering away from his cheek, almost as if it wanted to tenderly touch it.

“Yes.” Jack nearly whined, the bravado he put on earlier crumbling away quickly as the stress of watching his daughter slowly wither away finally caught up with him, he couldn’t lose her, not to an illness that they didn’t have a cure for. He would do ANYTHING to save her, even giving up his soul.

The grin the demon wore only grew as  _ he _ suddenly surged forward and sealed their deal with a kiss. Jack returned the kiss with everything he was worth, he suddenly seemed so needy for the contact, the hand that had gripped the tail around his neck loosened. 

For the first time since Jack had decided to go down this path did he wonder if he made the right choice.

He didn’t know how long they held the kiss for but when they finally broke apart Jack rested against the demon, suddenly feeling very drained. In fact, it was almost impossible to keep his eyes open as he drifted off to sleep, soothed by the too warm embrace of the demon he had made a deal with.

_ …. Was he dying? _

* * *

When Jack awoke he had no idea how much time had passed since the kiss had happened, but he felt as though he were in a dream. His mind was hazy, he couldn’t quite remember anything, but he was in his bed, the sheets softer than they had ever been, the outfit he had worn for the ritual had been removed and he found himself in his sleepwear. There was no way this was happening, right? Was everything he had done a strange nightmare?

Before he could dwell too much longer on whether he was still sleeping or not the door to his bedroom opened and he saw Angel, smiling widely and looking so healthy, cheeks full and eyes their bright blue color once again. He couldn’t help but smile back at her as she came rushing into his room, arms wrapping tightly around his chest.

“Father! You’re awake, I’m so happy!” Angel’s excitement was infectious, smiles were shared between the two, although her smile dropped quickly as he pulled back at arm’s length to check her father over, “you’ve been asleep for days, I was almost afraid you wouldn’t wake up again, but doctor Lawrence is amazing, he cured me and he said you would wake up again and you did!” 

“Days!?” While Jack had been shocked by this news, if you were to look closely at his heterochromatic eyes, a deep concern shone through as he didn’t remember calling for a doctor.

Jack didn’t have time to dwell on this concerning thought as a man that shared his looks seemed to appear from nowhere, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, a soft smile on his face, yet there was something wrong about him.

“Ah, I see you’re awake. I was rather concerned about your health, I noted that while I was healing your daughter that you seemed feverish and were far too light for a grown man your size. It’s honestly a miracle you’ve managed to not pass out way before I arrived. Do you not believe in caring for yourself?” The ‘doctor’ questioned.

“Doctor Lawrence, please be nice to my father…. he hasn’t been caring for himself since he had been too busy with caring for me instead.” Angel was quick to jump to Jack’s defense, while they had grown distant due to his obsessions with trying to help her, she did appreciate everything he had done for her.

Doctor Lawrence at least looked sheepish after Angel had spoken up.

“Angel, can you excuse me and Doctor Lawrence for a moment? I need to discuss a few things with him….” Jack seemed to almost be in a trance as his eyes never left Lawrence…there was no way he was a doctor. He didn’t call one, he had summoned a demon!

Angel gave Jack an inquisitive look before nodding her head and slowly walking out the door, her curiosity kept her hanging around though as she wondered what they could possibly be discussing without her. Her father never shied from her being present during business talks before, in fact he encouraged her to be there with him as he aimed to teach her the trade. While she had been taken in by the Doctor at first, something was starting to feel off and she was determined to find out what! Pressing her ear to the door she listened in on the conversation as best she could.

Jack threw the covers off his body and lept from bed as he stalked closer to this so-called Doctor Lawrence. Although he had been halted in his tracks as a clawed hand was held up to shush him and keep him still.

“No need to be so formal with me, Jack, you can call me Tim if you want. After all we did agree the night I arrived that I would stay here for the time being to watch over Angel’s health and I would like us to be on more friendlier times to make my stay less awkward.” While he filled Jack in on his plan’s he gestured towards the door and brought a finger to his lips. They had a listener and he doubted Jack would want her to get wind of what really happened.

“…..” Jack was loathe to play along but he hated the idea of Angel knowing what he had done to get her healthy. “Silly me, the fever must still be in my brain if I forgot about our arrangement.” He glared at the demon that seemed to be all too pleased with himself. Shouldn’t he have left by now? Why was he staying around disguised as a doctor!? So many questions he couldn’t even ask because he couldn’t risk Angel overhearing him.

“Today seems to be a rather nice day and I don’t know my way around the nearby town yet, perhaps we could talk a day trip there. Angel is in good health and you appear to be feeling quite a bit better.” Tim suggested still giving Jack a sly look. “Of course, we have to take it easy as we don’t want either of two strain yourselves.”

He wanted to tell him no, to get out as their business had been concluded, yet the longer Jack stared at the demon the more he felt compelled to do what he suggested, he couldn’t help himself.

“Yes, I know that Angel would love to go out, she hasn’t been out for a day trip in months.”

While Jack had agreed verbally to go out he had still been against it, yet the first step out the door with Angel hanging on his arm, eyes wide and the biggest smile he has seen in months had him quickly changing his thoughts. She deserved to be out, so he could swallow whatever uncomfortable feelings lingered with having the demon out with them. 

Of course, he might be changing his mind once again about going out because as soon as they had gone to the market, Angel practically ran in one direction while the demon went in the other and he was stuck chasing them both down to keep them all together. 

A task he wasn’t wholly prepared for.

An hour later he was walking through the market, with Angel in tow the pair began their search for Tim, who had disappeared about five minutes ago around the fresh fish part of the market. He had finally managed to track the pair of troublemakers down and they seemed to be enjoying themselves until he had taken his eyes off Tim and he had once again vanished.

They had found Tim near dusk, his form appeared to be crouched and huddled up in an alleyway. Jack reckoned he was either not feeling well or was eating something, with a firm grip on Angel he told her to stay put as he went to go and check up on their strange new Doctor friend. For a moment, Angel appeared to be disappointed at having to stay behind but she agreed to anyway as she knew she had caused quite a bit of trouble already for her poor father and didn’t intend to cause anymore mischief for the rest of the day. Although she had stayed back, it didn’t stop her from standing on her tippy toes, trying to peek and see what was going on.

As Jack cautiously approached Tim he thought he heard a curious sound.

_ Purring _ .

Rushing towards Tim now and peering over his shoulder once he got closer he discovered the demon to be petting a cat that appeared to be pregnant with kittens. Was he here this whole time? Investigating the area a little further and he found part of a fish body that had clearly come from the market they were at earlier when Tim had disappeared.

“Isn’t she cuuute?” Tim cooed while continuing to pet the cat, he was relaxed and completely blissed out just petting this cat he had found by the market. The poor thing must have been so hungry and there was all this fish just sitting around waiting to be eaten so he took one of them and while Jack wasn’t looking he slipped away to follow the kitty down an alleyway and feed her. Where he stayed for who knows how long just petting and cooing at the cat that was enjoying his attention.

Just as Jack thought he had the demon figured out he had to go and pull something like this, it was oddly endearing.

“Yeah, she is pretty cute.” Jack agreed almost tempted to crouch down to pet the cat as well, but he stayed still just watching Tim, almost mesmerized.

“Settles that then, we have to keep her.” Tim said, his head giving one nod as though his decision were final.

“Wait, hold up there, just because I said she was cute didn’t mean I agreed to keep her!” While Jack did find her cute he wasn’t sure he wanted to bring a stray cat home on the whim of a demon, plus would he even take care of her or would that be left to someone else.

The sudden raise in her father’s voice had Angel rush into the alleyway to see what was going on. Her eyes widened at the sight of the cat and with speed that made Jack question whether she had supernatural abilities herself, she was kneeling on the other side of the cat, gushing about how adorable she was. The cat rewarded her with a meow and purred louder when a small soft hand went to pet the cat with the larger rougher hand. 

“Look, Angel loves her too, we have to keep her around.” Tim would be using every trick in the book to keep this cat, including using Angel and he especially large blue eyes that seemed as though they could sway even the most hardened of men.

“Please, father!” Angel almost seemed desperate as she gave Jack the biggest pout she could. All the stops would be pulled out to keep this cat.

Jack groaned loudly and dramatically as he gave in to the two, fingers coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose, an agreement under the condition of them taking care of the cat and giving away her kittens when they were old enough to leave their mother.

It has been months and they have not gotten rid of the kittens as was promised, instead they had grown attached the moment they had been born. They had four healthy little kittens and one proud momma cat who had gotten every bit of attention from Angel and Tim since they had brought her home. 

Months of living together and getting attached to not only to the cats but the demon that had decided to stay with them.

Jack still couldn’t figure out WHY the demon wanted to stay! He had asked multiple times out of earshot of Angel and yet every time he had asked, Tim either ignored him or changed the subject. It was infuriating and while he had a growing paranoia, every time he went to try and research a way of making this demon talk or kill it, he always found himself unable to concentrate, the words almost seemed foreign to him and then Tim would appear and lure him out of his study.

His last attempt at researching had almost ended with his entire study burning up, which he couldn’t even blame on Tim because he had been out with Angel, the two of them going out to fawn over Butt Stallion their prized horse. Jack resigned his fate to never knowing why Tim was here or ever being able to kill him as he felt like a power was at work to keep him from finding out any weaknesses, he couldn’t even recall the things he had read the first time. 

* * *

 

Weeks had passed and Jack felt himself increasingly comfortable with Tim being around, in fact he actively looked for him just to be in his company a smile on his face when he found him doing something mundane or silly.

Tim’s favorite pastime was laying on the floor and piling the cats on top of himself, a funny image already but thinking about the fact that he was a demon always made it funnier. It was so strangely domestic.

Tim noted the look on the man’s face, it was an expression he often wore while in deep thought and he knew now was the perfect chance to mess with him. Carefully removing the kitties and silently getting to his feet, he snuck behind the man with a grace and speed only a demon like him could muster. Tim rested his head on Jack’s shoulder, arms wrapped around his waist.

Jack had barely noticed him there, that is until he felt a kiss press to his neck. The shock of the kiss had forced him to wheel around and face the offender, only for them to no longer be in sight. His hand lifted to his neck to feel the area that had been so tenderly kissed moments ago.

With a sly smile of his own he decided he would need to return the favor, he was going to fluster the demon. With a firm nod to himself Jack decided to plan something that would turn this little game around.

Two weeks later, Jack found his time to strike. With Angel’s returning health she had gone back to school, which left Tim and Jack alone in his home. The games began from there, they started out innocently enough with gently brushes of their hands up against each other to ‘accidentally’ bumping hips as they go by. 

Every day they got braver with each other until Jack finally shoved Tim against the wall and pressed their lips together, hands resting on his shoulders as he kissed him deeply, a tongue slipping out of Jack’s mouth to lick at Tim’s lips, demanding entrance.

So, caught off guard by the sudden boldness, Tim was helpless to do anything but follow Jack’s lead and allow him entrance into his mouth. He slid his eyes shut and placed both hands on the hips of his human. Enjoying the tongue as it explored his mouth, it seemed eager and with its movement it discovered a place to make the demon to moan, swiping across the mouth repeatedly, Tim only let out moans that were swallowed by Jack.

The kiss broke apart as Jack needed to breathe, a trail of saliva connected to two of them, the warmth that only appeared when Tim was in close proximity activated and Jack could feel himself getting increasingly turned on.

He wasn’t the only one as one glance down showed an impressive bulge in Tim’s pants. That- was it wiggling? Jack should have recoiled instantly but instead he just seemed that much more interested.

* * *

That night, they found themselves in Jack’s bed, breathless and happy.

Jack was playing with Tim’s hair, listening to him purr and slowly drifting off to a comfortable sleep, yet before he could get there, Tim spoke up.

“I’m a desire demon, I grant what you want the most in exchange for your soul.” Tim wasn’t talking directly to Jack, he had been talking straight to his chest. “That kiss wasn’t only to seal the deal, it was- I was searching for what you wanted the most, at times mortals never actually know what they truly want. You thought of your daughter, but you thought of your partner too, you didn’t want to be alone. I granted that.”

“Is that why you stayed?” Jack didn’t know how to take this, was Tim saying he only wanted to stay to fulfill their deal? That it was out of contractual obligation instead of his own desire? 

“At first…I could have brought someone new to your door, or arranged a fated meeting with a new lover, but you had intrigued me. That first meeting wasn’t something I had ever experienced before, you threw a bowl at my head.” Tim was always quick to remind Jack about that every chance he got, “normally, I would grant what you want then I would leave and then return on your deathbed as the shambling horror you had first seen and of course take your soul.”

Jack never wanted to recall that shambling horror and yet it had haunted his dreams, he had a feeling he would have been seeing it again before he died. “What I’m getting from this is that I’m a semi-interesting toy that you’re waiting to die so you can have my soul and give me one last scare.”

“What? No, that’s not- “Tim had gone off trying to explain himself, but he seemed unsure of what he had been saying, he was a frustrated stuttering mess by the end of it and had rolled out of the bed to go blow off steam.

Jack watched him leave, silent the entire time as he tried to decipher what Tim had truly been saying to him. He couldn’t get past the part where Tim said he had stayed because Jack had intrigued him. At that moment he felt nothing more than a toy, he should have known that’s all he was to a demon. They lived immortal lives after all, why would they want to spend time with mortals other than to mess with them? With a sigh, Jack got out of bed to go and clean up.

* * *

After the debacle that was last night, Jack and Tim had taken to avoiding each other.

Tim made himself scarce just trying to think of a way to tell Jack his feelings in a way that he would understand better, of course he would need to understand them himself as he wasn’t exactly used to feeling this way. It was new territory.

Jack had withdrawn to his rebuilt office, angry that he had allowed himself to think of himself as something more than a toy to a demon. He only came out at the insistence of Angel who had noticed the change in both Tim and her dad instantly. She was trying to figure out WHY things had suddenly changed between them.

Angel had been trying to get the two of them in the same room for a week now. She was sick of them not talking to each other and the absolute refusal to enter the same room as the other. It was time to pull out the  _ stern _ voice.

“Tim, you’re probably wondering why I summoned you here.”

Tim cringed at Angel’s choice of words.

The cringe didn’t slip past Angel, she was sharp. “Let’s get this out of the way, I know you’re a demon. You’re not exactly sneaky about it and before you interrupt me, allow me to continue.” She did pause for a moment to see if Tim would try and defend himself but he didn’t, good.

“What happened between you and my father?” She questioned, eyes narrowing and arms crossing. Clearly, she didn’t fear Tim, how could she? Angel had watched him for the months he had been with them, every silly action he had ever done, she even snuck a peek into a journal he wrote in from time to time when he thought no one was watching. It had been filled with doodles of bears and some dialogue exchanged between them. That was strange yet still endearing all the same. He was comfortable around them, at least he was until whatever had happened a week ago.

“That’s- I’m, I don’t know. I tried telling him how I felt and it backfired.” Tim wasn’t even going to argue with Angel, she was too smart for her own good and secretly incredibly devious despite that innocent act. He couldn’t even read her as easy as he could read her father! Her giant blue eyes gave away nothing. “I can’t even think of a different way to tell him.”

“I see,” Angel knew her father was terrible with his own emotions and tended to jump to the worst conclusion first, Tim would have to be very direct with him to get it across his thick skull. “How did you tell him? Tell me everything.”

Tim did not tell her anything, he left out the explicit part, in fact he left out the part where they were in the bedroom entirely. All she knew was the dialogue that had been exchanged and even that wasn’t everything because he couldn’t tell Angel her father’s desires, that had to be against some sort of code or rule he followed. He broke enough already by staying and telling Jack his greatest desire.

“While you were mostly unhelpful, there was a few important tidbits I learned.” Angel began to pace, only stopping after a couple of minutes of silence, “alright, I have an idea but you have to do everything I say.” He didn’t but she felt good giving out the orders and wanted to see what exactly she could make him do.

Angel learned that Tim was willing to do everything she said, there was only a moment of hesitation a handful of times. While most of her intentions had been pure, she may have slipped in a few silly tasks for entertainment purposes. It was in good fun and it had allowed Tim to work off a few nerves and put him in a good mood.

* * *

With a gentle encouragement from Angel, Tim went up to Jack’s office that night and knocked on the door. A minute later he knocked again, then again, and gain. This continued on for nearly ten minutes until the door was thrown open.

“WHAT!?” Jack shouted as he glared Tim down, tempted to slam the door in his face.

That could have gone better but he still had a chance to save this, Angel and Tim had rehearsed this all day…although now that he thought about it….why did he take the advice of a little girl? There was no way she had any experience with situations like this.

“So, uh, I feel like…the last time we spoke could have gone better and and and…” Tim couldn’t get the words out he was busy staring at Jack then at the ceiling then the floor then the wall behind Jack. He just thrusted the flowers he had brought with him, at Angel’s insistence, towards Jack. He hoped he would have accepted them but he just continued to glare and looked ready to slam the door. That wasn’t part of the plan.

Jack was about to slam the door but Tim had wedged himself in the door, so Jack couldn’t shut him out. 

“Will you move!?” Jack was trying as hard as he could to kill Tim with the door, at least that’s what it felt to Tim as he was currently being crushed by it, Jack putting his full weight into trying to close the door despite the obstacle in the way.

“Ow, no, I’m not goin’ to mov- “Tim was caught off by a hand coming to his face to try and shove him out of the door, “will you just listen to me?” Another shove his face told him his answer. Fine, if he wanted to go on the attack then Tim had no choice but to answer in kind. He began slapping at Jack with the flowers, they were a necessary sacrifice. He would avenge them later.

The flower slapping surprised Jack so much he was momentarily stunned. Stunned long enough for Tim to be able to fully enter the office, the door shutting behind him.

Angel came out from behind the corner he had been hiding by a satisfied look on her face. Her plan was a success, she knew those flowers would come in handy. She didn’t know that they would be used that way but if anyone asked later that was on purpose. With a smile she decided to treat herself to a pasty and headed downstairs.

Jack huffed and glared at Tim but now that he was inside he might as well let him have the floor, “say what you want then get out.”

“Deal. Okay I’m here because...you’re interesting as a person and I stayed because of that.” Tim may have rushed through that sentence and it wasn’t what he has rehearsed with Angel, which he is still questioning why he had taken her advice to begin with.

“We moved from intriguing to interesting. That’s all you had to say?”

“Yes, wait, no. No that’s not what I came here to say. I’m trying to tell you that I l-“ The ‘L’ rolled on Tim’s tongue as he still tried to figure out how to tell Jack he liked him. He couldn’t get the stupid word out and clearly Angel wasn’t joking about how dense her father could be.

“We’re not getting anywhere. Will you just get out?” Jack sounded exhausted and done with everything. “Why couldn’t you have just left after the conversation last week and just set me up with someone like you had been planning?”

“No! Not till I tell you what I came here to tell you.” Tim was quickly becoming exasperated with the entire situation.

“Spit it out then, I’m not getting any younger here, cupcake!” Jack wasn’t helping, he wouldn’t stop talking.

“Will you for once just shuuuut up! I’m trying to tell you that I like you!” Tim shouted, hands wrapped around Jack’s forearms, staring down the human before him, not realizing he had finally revealed his feelings.

“Did you just say you liked me?” Jack’s anger quickly dissipated as he thought more on what Tim just said to him. Tim, the demon, the demon that was going to take his soul at this end of his life, liked him. 

“Yes. Okay. Yes, I like you…at first I was just intrigued but dammit all this time we spent around each other, I got actual feelings.” Tim slowly released Jack’s forearms, “I finally said what I came here to say and I’m gonna leave now.”

Jack was still silent as he continued to think about what Tim was saying, the silence was discouraging to Tim who had been slow to get to his feet but with nothing being said he turned to leave. At least that was the plan until Jack grabbed his hand.

“You can stay, I want you to stay. I know Angel wants you to stay too, if you leave now, you would be going back on our deal.” Jack had wanted a more complete family and it had been granted.

“I meant I was going to leave your office but…I have no problems staying but you owe me new flowers, your face destroyed the ones I had brought.” Tim smiled, hand going up to Jack’s hair pulling off one of the many flower petals that had made their new home in his hair.

“If you kiss me, I promise I’ll get you new flowers.” Jack grinned at Tim, pulling him closer.

“Deal.” Tim closed the distance and sealed their lips together with a kiss.


End file.
